The invention relates to a device for separating flat objects, such as envelopes, letters, mailing envelopes, pouches, printed pages or the like, supplied in stacked form and standing, to a rotating transport means, consisting of a conveyor device, which grasps the objects individually on the flat side and removes them crosswise to the stack forming direction, one by one from the front of the stack with the aid of a belt run of a rotating conveying element.
A device of this kind is disclosed in European patent documents EP-A-0 191 351, 0 215 469, 0 423 664, 0 525 582 and 0 589 789. EP-A-0191 351 relates to a separator of flat objects with varied physical characteristics, which range over a broad spectrum, wherein a feeding station is provided for a stack of the objects and a removal station for the individual objects. A separating station is arranged in-between, which grasps the objects at the stack front and places them crosswise in the removal station. For this purpose, the aforementioned reference provides that the stacks formed vertically to the separating direction are moved by means of fingers or carriers that can be swiveled in from the side to the separating station, where the first article in the base area hits a low stop. The article is displaced to the removal station located on the side with an oscillating drive intake device that is guided toward the first article. This removal station consists of an endlessly rotating conveyor belt with openings, behind which a vacuum chamber is arranged at the trajectory for the removed objects. By operating jointly with the openings in the conveyor belt, this vacuum chamber holds the article, located on the opposite side, against the conveyor belt.
EP-A-0 215 469 relates to an installation for marking flat objects, in particular postal shipments, which affixes coded information to the flat objects in accordance with the address information written on the objects and which has a manual encoding station for this purpose. Connected to this installation is also a device for separating, with which the objects that arrive in stacked form are removed with their front end from the stack with an evacuating conveying element--a roller or belt--and are pushed from the side into a conveying device. To be sure, this concerns an intermittent feeding and processing of the stacks, which are supplied by a moving rear wall of the magazine of the separating device from which the objects are to be removed, wherein once the magazine is emptied, this rear wall is moved back to the starting position to be refilled.
Similar devices are shown in EP-A-0 525 582 and 0 589 789.
The devices described in the aformentioned references, do not have arrangements that satisfy an uninterrupted processing of the objects, which have varied formats and thicknesses.
Not only do these known devices lack a reliable operation with respect to all connected movements at the place where the objects are taken up, but they also do not function well in the area of the transfer from the separating station to the continued transport.